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Exporting Performance Data of Web Pages to AppFlow Collector

January 14, 2019
Contributed by:  C

The EdgeSight Monitoring application provides web page monitoring data with which you can monitor the performance of various Web applications served in a NetScaler environment. You can now export this data to AppFlow collectors to get an in-depth analysis of the web page applications. AppFlow, which is based on IPFIX standard, provides more specific information about web application performance than does EdgeSight monitoring alone.

You can configure both load balancing and content switching virtual servers to export EdgeSight Monitoring data to AppFlow collectors. Before configuring a virtual server for AppFlow export, associate an Appflow action with the EdgeSight Monitoring responder policy.

The following web page performance data is exported to AppFlow:

  • Page Load Time. Elapsed time, in milliseconds, from when the browser starts to receive the first byte of a response until the user starts to interact with the page. At this stage, all the page content might not be loaded.
  • Page Render Time.Elapsed time, in milliseconds, from when the browser receives the first byte of response until either all page content has been rendered or the page load action has timed out.
  • Time Spent on the Page. Time spent by users on a page. Represents the period of time from one page request to the next one.

AppFlow transmits the performance data by using the Internet Protocol Flow Information eXport (IPFIX) format, which is an open Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard defined in RFC 5101. The AppFlow templates use the following enterprise-specific Information Elements (EIEs) to export the information:

  • Client Load End Time. Time at which the browser received the last byte of a response to load all the objects of the page such as images, scripts, and stylesheets.
  • Client Load Start Time.Time at which the browser receives the first byte of the response to load any objects of the page such as images, scripts, and stylesheets.
  • Client Render End Time. Time at which browser finished rendering the entire page, including the embedded objects.
  • Client Render Start Time. Time at which the browser started rendering the page.

Prerequisites for Exporting Performance Data of Web Pages to AppFlow Collectors

Before associating the AppFlow action with the AppFlow policy, verify that the following prerequisites have been met:

  • The AppFlow feature has been enabled and configured.
  • The Responder feature has been enabled.
  • The EdgeSight Monitoring feature has been enabled.
  • EdgeSight Monitoring has been enabled on the load balancing or content switching virtual servers bound to the services of applications for which you want to collect the performance data.

Associating an AppFlow Action with the EdgeSight Monitoring Responder Policy

To export the web page performance data to the AppFlow collector, you must associate an AppFlow action with the EdgeSight Monitoring responder policy. An AppFlow action specifies which set of collectors receive the traffic.

To associate an AppFlow action with the EdgeSight Monitoring Responder policy by using the command line interface

At the command prompt, type:

set responder policy <name> -appflowAction <action_Name>

Example

set responder policy pol -appflowAction actn

To associate an AppFlow action with the EdgeSight Monitoring Responder policy by using the configuration utility

  1. Navigate to AppExpert > Responder > Policies.
  2. In the details pane, select an EdgeSight Monitoring responder policy, and then click Open.
  3. In the Configure Responder Policy dialog box, in the AppFlow Action drop-down list, select the AppFlow action associated with the collectors to which you want to send the web-page performance data.
  4. Click OK.

Configuring a Virtual Server to Export EdgeSight Statistics to Appflow Collectors

To export EdgeSight statistics information from a virtual server to the AppFlow collector, you must associate an AppFlow action with the virtual server.

To associate an AppFlow action with a Load Balancing or Content Switching virtual server by using the configuration utility

  1. Navigate to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Virtual Servers. You can also navigate to Traffic Management > Content Switching > Virtual Servers.
  2. In the details pane, select a virtual server, or multiple virtual servers, and then click Enable EdgeSight Monitoring.
  3. In the Enable EdgeSight Monitoring dialog box, select the Export EdgeSight statistics to Appflow check box.
  4. From the Appflow Action drop-down list, select the AppFlow action. The AppFlow action defines the list of AppFlow collectors to which it exports EdgeSight Monitoring statistics. If you have selected multiple load balancing virtual servers, the same AppFlow Action will be associated with the responder policies bound to them. You can later change the AppFlow Action configured for each of the selected Load Balancing virtual server individually, if required.
  5. Click OK.

Exporting Performance Data of Web Pages to AppFlow Collector

January 14, 2019
Contributed by:  C

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